Elyria graduate Vic Janowicz, who won the Heisman Trophy at Ohio State in 1950, is shown above during his college days in Columbus. (Photo Courtesy of the College Football Hall of Fame.) / AP

Written by

Larry Phillips

CentralOhio.com

About this series

This is the fourth in a 13-part series detailing the exploits of Ohio’s football legends. Each Tuesday we will profile another historic figure. Aug. 27 Introduction Sept. 3 Chic Harley Sept. 10 Pete Henry Sept. 17 Marion Motley Sept. 24 Vic Janowicz

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ELYRIA — Vic Janowicz looked nothing like an overwhelming talent.

He weighed just 136 pounds as a sophomore at Elyria High School in 1945. But his talent was so much bigger, and coach Ike Trubey recognized it immediately.

Wearing number 79, the slight but swift Janowicz scored on a 3-yard dive in his varsity debut to help the Pioneers top Oberlin 13-0. Operating out of the single wing, Vic tossed the game-winning 47-yard touchdown pass in a 7-6 win over Shaker Heights. The 15-year-old then broke up a second-half tie with a startling, 72-yard TD dash to knock off Cleveland Shaw, 12-6.

Those were the highlights for a 3-6 squad that managed just 52 points. Janowicz accounted for 25 of them. No one had seen someone so small be so special in Ohio since Chic Harley, 30 years earlier.

By 1946 Vic had 20 more pounds to carry, thanks to his mother’s starch-laden Polish menu, but maintained his superb speed.

Now wearing number 22, Janowicz threw five TD passes in the first two games. His 69-yard strike was the key play in a victory over Fremont. But injuries to teammates limited Elyria to a 5-3-1 mark.

Janowicz hurled 10 touchdown passes, scored 43 points and was the only junior to make first-team All-Ohio, according to United Press. He was a basketball and baseball star, too, but the stage was set for a big senior football season.

Now at 167 pounds, he peeled off a spectacular 95-yard touchdown run to deny Toledo DeVilbiss 19-12 in the opener. At Sandusky he had TD dashes of 66 and 49 yards.

At Shaker Heights, Vic took off on TD bolts of 35 and 24 yards in a 27-0 victory. At Youngstown South he ripped off a 55-yard touchdown run and a 28-yard scoring pass during a 27-19 win.

On Halloween, he added two TD passes and a scoring run in a 39-7 blowout of previously undefeated Fremont.

Amid a muddy quagmire against arch-rival Lorain, Vic had a 1-yard TD plunge and the PAT in a 7-6 victory. The win vaulted the Pioneers to No. 2 in the state poll behind only unbeaten Barberton. Janowicz posted 1,032 yards rushing, tossed six TD passes and scored 101 points on 14 touchdowns and 17 PATs.

He was Ohio’s player of the year. Vic was also the most highly recruited athlete in the Midwest in more than a decade. But the son of immigrants wanted to stay close to home, and did by attending Ohio State.

In his first significant action in 1949, a blowout of Indiana, he recovered a fumble, caught a TD pass and booted a pair of extra points. But a foot injury sidelined him for more than a month before he returned against Illinois to toss a 42-yard pass. He also added a short scoring run.

Although his season was uneven, the Buckeyes won a share of the conference crown. At the Rose Bowl, Vic intercepted two passes, the first turned the game’s momentum thanks to his dazzling 44-yard return.

The second interception turned around the field position to set up the game-winning field goal in the final two minutes. The sixth-ranked Buckeyes won 17-14, the first Rose Bowl championship in school history.

That scenario led to a magical 1950 season.

Against Pitt, he hit on all six of his passes, four of them for touchdowns and added a 76-yard punt in less than a half of action during a 41-7 blowout.

At home against 2-2 Iowa, Janowicz outdid himself. On the first snap he recovered a fumble to set up his own 11-yard TD run. His first of a conference-record 10 PATs made it 7-0. He unleashed a 61-yard punt return for a score, and fired a 12-yard touchdown pass. Vic threw two more TD passes in the second period and another in the third quarter in an 83-21 pounding. Janowicz completed 5 of 6 passes for 133 yards and four touchdowns, and ran for two more scores.

But No. 1-ranked OSU turned it over seven times at No. 8 Illinois, and Vic’s scoring plunge was not enough in a 14-7 loss. Worse, a blizzard hit Columbus the following week for the Michigan game. Janowicz kicked a 28-yard field goal through gusting winds, but the Wolverines blocked a pair of punts that led to points in a 9-3 stunner.

The only solace was Janowicz. For the season he recorded 12 TD passes, led the conference in scoring (65 points) and total offense (875 yards), and far outpaced SMU’s Kyle Rote for the Heisman Trophy.

“It has more meaning than any other amateur award in the country,” Janowicz said in 1980.

Yet the rest of his athletic career was filled with disappointment. Befuddled by the Snow Bowl loss, coach Wes Fesler quit. New coach Woody Hayes installed the Split-T offense, and it neutralized Janowicz. He was relegated to defense and kicker in 1951, but hit two game-winning field goals against Northwestern and Pitt.

After a year in the service, Vic accepted a five-figure bonus from the Pittsburgh Pirates. But the deal forced him to the majors too early. He played sparingly as a catcher and third baseman in 1953 and 1954, and then signed a two-year deal with the Washington Redskins.

Janowicz was the Bo Jackson of his era.

In 1954 Vic was a cornerback. In 1955 he played offense, averaged 4.1 yards per carry and was second in the NFL scoring chase.

It ended quickly though. A car crash before the 1956 season wiped out his athletic career. He worked various jobs before dying of cancer in 1996.

“He is a champion, a hero that 64 years later we are still talking about today,” Elyria Superintendent Paul Rigda said in 2011.